BRISTOL 1 - Wrap Up

Well geekers if you followed our lineup this week, congrats, you scored 348 points on a difficult track to predict a +300 point finish. Here are some of the notes from today:

-Kyle Busch had a good car, maybe not even the best car but his driving ability and his pit crew got it done for him when it counted and that was enough for the win.

-Carl Edwards is still red hot, do not be afraid to use up a fair amount of your 99 starts early on here in the season. Edwards is in a contract year, and his FOX Pre-Race interview with DW confirmed what most are saying, he's not signed on the dotted line with Roush. This could be a distraction factor down the stretch. Combine that with guys like Johnson and Hamlin who should be solid picks during the Chase, I am not afraid to continue to ride the Edwards hot streak and burn through his starts.

-Jimmie Johnson is that good. This team was junk in the whopping 6 laps of practice they did on the new compound tire, and he had arguably the best car all day long. I can never argue against starting the 48, but I do believe they are still in a bit of test mode here early on, and with guys like Edwards running great you can afford to push off your 48 starts.


-Ryan Newman continues to be the stud of the B-List. Between his strong runs and great qualifying promise, you're going to almost have to have the 39 on your list at most tracks. But be careful, you want to make sure you maximize your value with Newman starts and don't waste him on a track where he does not have Top 10 potential.

-Likewise I still believe you will get 9 starts out of Clint Bowyer, but this team is really really slow getting out of the box and I would save his starts until some momentum starts to swing his way. Jeff Burton's team devastated what could of been a Top 15 run with a loose wheel early in the race. As I said earlier, this team is absolutely toxic in the B-List and I am steering clear for now. I would love to see the 31 turn it around at Fontana, and then have him with some positive momentum going int Martinsville where he's been strong in the past. I'm also going to wait for Joey Logano to turn this around, this kid can't buy a break it seems but is running a lot stronger than his finishes show.

-Kasey Kahne is really outperforming what I thought this team would have to offer early in the season. This is another driver who I am not afraid to use early as the later season drama of pushing Martin out of his ride could bring both the 4 and 5 teams down. Juan Pablo Montoya made a lot of improvements to his car from practice to the race, but bad luck once again hit the 42 team. Marcos Ambrose is going to get serious sleeper consideration for Fontana after another strong performance in Bristol backed up by his great performance in Vegas.


-I want 36 Paul Menard starts. It's becoming obvious he is, by far, the class of the C-List field. So it's going to come down to when/where you are going to maximize your value out of him. Bobby Labonte really impressed me today and should be a great start-save option going into Martinsville. David Ragan, although not great, was solid all day and came home with a decent finish, which is what that team needed.


I will be posting a Fontana breakdown on Tuesday so check back here for that!